TRANSPORTATION
Uber settles lawsuit
Ride service Uber Technologies Inc has agreed to pay up to US$100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over whether its California drivers are employees or independent contractors, resolving a major challenge to its business model. The settlement maintains Uber drivers as independent contractors, even though the lawsuit had alleged that Uber drivers are employees entitled to reimbursement of expenses. Out of the US$100 million proposed payment, US$84 million is guaranteed to drivers and US$16 million is contingent on an increase in Uber’s value.
AUTOMAKERS
Daimler profit falls 32%
German car, truck and bus maker Daimler AG has seen net profit fall 32 percent in the first quarter as costs to launch its new E-Class mid-size weighed on the bottom line. Net profit fell to 1.4 billion euros (US$1.6 billion) from 2.05 billion euros in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 2 percent to 35 billion euros on increased vehicle sales of 683,885, a 7 percent rise. The net profit figure fell short of analysts’ expectations of 1.7 billion euros as compiled by financial information provider FactSet.
BONDS
ECB details bond buying
The European Central Bank (ECB) said it plans to start buying corporate bonds in June as it unveiled more details of its purchase program. The bank will start buying corporate bonds maturing between six months and 30 years, according to a statement on the bank’s Web site. Purchases will include bonds issued by insurance companies, while excluding those sold by banks, ECB President Mario Draghi said in a press conference on Thursday.
UNITED KINGDOM
Deficit target missed
The annual deficit overshot the Conservative government’s target, official data showed on Thursday, dealing a blow to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. Net borrowing stood at £74 billion (US$106 billion) in the 2015-2016 financial year to the end of last month, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. That missed the government’s official forecast of £72.2 billion, despite ongoing austerity from Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative administration.
RESTAURANTS
Starbucks overhauls rewards
Starbucks Corp on Thursday voiced confidence that an overhaul of its rewards program would drive up sales over the long term, but warned that the transition could be bumpy. The comments came after the company reported sales growth for the first three months of the year that fell short of analysts’ expectations. The Seattle-based chain said global comparable sales rose 6 percent, including a 7 percent increase in its flagship US market. Total revenue, which factors in new store openings, rose 9 percent to US$4.99 billion.
RETAIL
Sears to close 78 stores
Sears Holdings Corp, the struggling retailer run by hedge fund investor Eddie Lampert, will shut almost 80 stores as part of a push to make the company profitable again. The closings will include 68 Kmarts and 10 Sears stores, the Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based company said on Thursday. Most of the stores will be shuttered in late July, with two Kmarts closing in mid-September. The move will eliminate about 5 percent of the company’s locations. Sears posted a US$580 million loss in its most recently reported quarter.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is